He recently played a country song from his new narrative-driven “Secret, Profane and Sugarcane” CD followed by “Watching the Detectives” from his “angry young man” phase in the 1970s.
So don't be surprised if he begins his first concert in the Coachella Valley tonight with a song from the Rat Pack.
Told that the venue — The Show at Agua Caliente — is on Bob Hope Drive, just north of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra drives, he said, “There's the first three songs.”
Costello, 55, has recorded and performed with the classical Brodsky Quartet and with former sidemen for Elvis Presley, who inspired the former Declan Patrick MacManus' professional first name.
(Costello is his paternal grandmother's maiden name).
He's married to jazz great Diana Krall and he's known as one of the most inventive songwriters in pop music.
But Costello gained fame with such songs as “Pump It Up,” “My Aim Is True” and “Radio, Radio” (which he famously sang on “Saturday Night Live” after being told not to) despite having no formal music education.
He didn't learn musical notation, he said, until he was in his late 30s.
“Once I got through that, I found it was a joy to be able to communicate with musicians who get their code exclusively off the page,” he said by telephone Tuesday. “It's strange I left it so long, but now I have written some things. I'm not setting myself up in competition with any great composers, but I've managed to write a couple of orchestral instrumental pieces and I can arrange my songs. When I do the show with the Utah Symphony, the bulk of arrangements are my own now.”
Costello also hosts a music interview show on the Sundance Channel, titled “Spectacle,” resuming next fall, that he says touts music appreciation.
He's interviewed such varied guests as Herbie Hancock, Lou Reed and his personal favorite, Smokey Robinson, who let him sing lead with him on the Miracles classic, “You've Really Got A Hold On Me.”
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